TongTong
Sign in

窃贼 (qiè zéi) — thief, burglar

Definition

noun
thiefburglar
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 窃贼。
    Nà ge qiè zéi tōu zǒu le wǒ de qián bāo.
    That thief stole my wallet.
  • 窃贼。
    Jǐng chá zhuā zhù le nà ge qiè zéi.
    The police caught that thief.
  • 窃贼。
    Zhè ge xiǎo qū zuì jìn chū xiàn le jǐ gè qiè zéi.
    Recently several thieves have appeared in this neighborhood.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

窃qièsteal
贼zéithief

窃 names stealing and 贼 names a thief, so together they mean a person who steals.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 竊; 窃 is its simplified writing.

  • 米米mǐrice
  • 攴攴pūaction
  • 禼禼xiè

For 窃, the traditional form 竊 combines 米 and 攴 with 禼, which gives the sound.

Open 窃 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 賊; 贼 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
戈戈gēweapon
Sound part声符shēngfú
則
則zé賊zéi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional 賊 combines 戈, a weapon, with 則 to give the pronunciation; the simplified 贼 is a later shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 贼 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.